


Written Under Your Skin

by AgentStannerShipper



Series: Star Trek Bingo 2020 [2]
Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Bodyswap, Dirty Talk, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Just a pinch of angst, Oral Sex, Sort Of, Vaginal Sex, android versus human senses, but thats just par for the course, communication is important, data gets to be human, mild references to tashas backstory, the ethics of being in your partners body, theres feelings these two need to work out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:20:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25845700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgentStannerShipper/pseuds/AgentStannerShipper
Summary: Tasha wakes up from a mission in Data's body. It's a little weird, but the side effects are more than worth it.
Relationships: Data/Tasha Yar
Series: Star Trek Bingo 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1875274
Comments: 6
Kudos: 27
Collections: Star Trek Bingo Summer 2020





	Written Under Your Skin

**Author's Note:**

> Obviously, this was for the bingo prompt "bodyswap." It was a total blast, working out the logistics of putting a human in an android body (and vice versa), and I think the results are just a little angsty, but mostly sweet (and hot).

Later, there would be an explanation and a resolution. There always was. They were Starfleet, after all, and explaining and resolving unexpected crises was what they did. But that didn’t change the fact that all Tasha could feel was panic as she opened her eyes to the familiar sickbay ceiling and slammed them shut again because _oh god why was everything so bright?_ Her head throbbed, pounding angrily at the sides of her skull, and Tasha bit down savagely on her lip, her panic rising as she realizing that not only was she still thinking about the lights, but about the overly sterile scent in the air, mixed with sweat and perfume and things that smelled vaguely medicinal in a variety of ways. _And_ about the straps wound tight around her wrist, the material scratchy but not abrasive. _And_ about voices, chattering too loud somewhere just beyond her head and across the room and in the doctor’s office, each conversation distinct and understandable even as the voices overlapped and how the hell was she thinking all these things at the same time?

A hand closed around her wrist, and it felt strange, warm and soft and muted but still another sensation to add to the list of things screaming at her brain. “Easy, Lieutenant,” Doctor Crusher murmured, her voice low and still too loud, too much. “It’s alright.”

“What’s happening?” Tasha managed. Her voice sounded funny. Different, a little deeper, too loud in her over-sensitive ears. “What’s happening to me?”

Doctor Crusher squeezed her arm, gently, but it almost _hurt_. “Just relax. We’re going to help you.”

“Allow me, Doctor.”

The new voice pinged as familiar, but Tasha didn’t have enough sense left to interpret it. She whimpered. Doctor Crusher’s hand withdrew, her footsteps putting her back a few paces – _approximately four point seven feet_ her brain whispered even as Tasha felt the urge to cry. She yanked at the straps, and felt them give a little, before a gentle hand pushed against hers again, this one smaller, with shorter nails. The voice was barely a murmur, so low that Tasha shouldn’t have been able to understand it, even as close as they were, but every word was clear. “Focus on the sound of my voice. You are alright. Your brain is attempting to process more input than your mind is equipped to handle. You must attempt to shut down the extraneous processing pathways. Can you do this for me, Tasha?”

“Hurts,” she mumbled. Her hands curled into fists. “Please.”

“I am here, Tasha. I am going to help you. Can you shut down the pathways?”

“How…”

“Imagine a series of switches. Each one connects to a conscious pathway. Can you envision them?”

“Yes.” The word came out shaky, but Tasha did as she was bid.

“Now, turn them off. One at a time, until there is only one left.”

Slowly, Tasha complied. The relief swept over her as her head stopped pulsing, the racing trains of thought tapering off, until all that was left was the blissful near-silence of her mind. She took a deep breath on instinct, puzzled when it provided no release. She blinked her eyes open, and the sickbay ceiling swam into view again, in precise enough detail that Tasha could see every pockmark in the tile. Vaguely, she was still aware of the conversations going on in the background. She still knew that she was strapped to a bed. The room was cool, but the lower temperature strangely did not make her skin prickle like it usually did. Everything was still there, but it was quiet now, not demanding her attention.

The hand on her wrist released, but Tasha felt no physical response to the loss of the warmth. She turned her head, frowning, and then stopped, her eyes widening as she stared into her own face.

And then the mirror image cocked her head, a motion so precise and sharp that Tasha would have recognized it anywhere. “Data?”

He smiled, faintly, a tiny gesture of relief that looked strange on her lips, and in her voice he asked, “Is that better?”

“I don’t understand.” Tasha glanced down at her hands, as best she could do in the restraints. The uniform was the right color – operations gold – but her hands…they were broader, chalk white and shimmering slightly. It explained why her own voice had sounded familiar, but wrong. It wasn’t her voice. It was Data’s.

Doctor Crusher stepped forward, her smile professional and kind. “The _Enterprise_ scanners registered a power surge while you and Data were on the planet. It knocked you both unconscious. We’re still investigating, but based on the preliminary findings-“

“Why am I tied down?”

Doctor Crusher stopped. She glanced at Data, her brow furrowing. Data took over, “Something about the composition of the surge took our brainwaves, and transported them. In essence, they swapped hosts. When I awoke, I was disoriented. I considered that, since android senses are more highly refined than humans, you might wake up in distress, since you are unused to experiencing my processing speeds. You were restrained in case it made you lash out. With your current strength, you could cause a great deal of harm inadvertently.”

“My…strength?”

Data nodded. “My android body is considerably stronger than any known humanoid, and as with my mental capabilities, you are not practiced at controlling it.” He reached for the straps at her wrists, undoing them with dexterous fingers. “As long as you are aware of it, I do not think it should be an issue.”

Tasha sat up, turning her hands over to examine them. She’d seen Data’s hands before, of course, up close and intimately, but they looked…different, somehow, now that she was attached to them. It took her a minute – two point four seconds – to go over things practically. She was in Data’s body, which meant she was a human consciousness in an android form. This was alright, because unlike the Ira Graves debacle, Data was safely in another body: _hers_. That was something she could worry about later, but at the moment it meant her being where she was wasn’t going to erase Data’s personality from existence. Being in Data’s body meant having the abilities of an android; in addition to the fact that Data was physically larger than she was, both in his height and the broadness of his form, she would be stronger, faster, with heightened senses and the ability to think at advanced speeds (case in point). It also meant…

“I’m still feelings things. And…I’m using contractions.” She looked at Data. “You aren’t.”

That smile appeared again, and the head tilt. He raised his eyebrows. “Tasha, it is still your mind. And while I am technically capable of contractions, it is my personality programming that struggles with them. It is…a habit.” He quieted, and his gaze fell to the floor. “As for your emotional state…”

“Your body isn’t reacting to it.”

Data blinked. He looked up at her. Tasha wrapped her arms around herself. “Everything feels a little…muted, I guess? You know, you panic and your heart starts racing. You take a deep breath, and you feel calm.” She glanced at Doctor Crusher. “The body is supposed to tie emotion and physicality together, right?”

Data glanced towards the doctor as well, and Doctor Crusher gave a helpless shrug. “I don’t know. You’ll have to speak to Deanna. That’s more a counselor’s area than mine. Yes, the body does respond to emotion with physical response, and vice versa, but I can’t say what that will mean here.”

Tasha could. She knew feelings. She knew that she _was_ feeling. But everything was just a little off-kilter, a little strange. And she knew Data’s face well enough to recognize his expression, even when it was distorted by her own features. He was feeling more than he let on.

And why wouldn’t he? He might have had an android personality program, but it was still in a human body. And if Tasha knew anything about her body, it was that it had a tendency to react emotionally even when her mind begged it not to.

Tasha swung her legs over the side of the bed, wrapping her fingers carefully around the edge. She’d seen Data bend metal. The last thing she needed was to wreck sickbay. “Who else knows about this?”

Doctor Crusher answered clinically. “The captain has been informed, and Counselor Troi. I’ve been instructed to bring you to the observation lounge to brief the senior staff as soon as you both regained conscious.”

“Alright.” Tasha nodded, and pushed herself to her feet. She blinked, not quite unsteady, but adjusting momentarily to the new eye level. She glanced towards Data, and while her mechanical heart didn’t exactly skip a beat at the thrill of having to look down a little to meet his gaze, there was definitely _some_ sort of minute response. She’d always wondered what it felt like to have Data’s seemingly unfeeling control. Well, now she had her answer.

Doctor Crusher gestured towards the door, and Tasha took the cue. Data matched his strides to hers, stumbling only slightly in his attempt to adjust. Tasha slowed a little; she couldn’t be sure, but she might have been moving too fast.

Doctor Crusher moved ahead of them, and Tasha let her, falling back with Data a few paces. She glanced at him, and murmured, “Are you okay?”

He cocked his head. “I am func…I am alright. How are you?”

“Functioning within established parameters,” she teased. Then she sobered. “But I mean it. You’ve talked about wishing you were human before. Now you…kind of are. What’s that even like?”

Data was silent a moment before responding. “Overwhelming,” he said at length. He did not meet her eyes. “You experience so many sensations that I am not accustomed to. It is…distracting.”

“But you’re okay?”

He hesitated again, and winced slightly. “I am adjusting. Attempting to compartmentalize the…feelings. Our current focus should be on restoring us to our correct bodies.”

Tasha stared at him. “You’ve spent all this time wanting to feel, and you’re just…not letting yourself?”

Data leveled a look at her, and it was odd seeing her own blue eyes so defiant, but without any heat. “This is not my body, Tasha. It is a violation for me to exist inside it.”

Tasha almost protested, but they’d reached the turbolift, and this wasn’t a conversation she wanted to have with the doctor in immediate earshot. She settled for biting her tongue – Data’s taste buds were _weird_ , processing the information of taste to a ridiculously accurate degree without any of the associated feelings – and folded her arms behind her back, in a practiced security stance.

As they approached the observation lounge, Tasha realized with a start (although without the customary jolt that it should have put her body through) that she could hear what they were saying inside. She focused in on that without really thinking about it. Apparently soundproofing only went so far; the voices were muffled, but just barely understandable in snippets, enough that Tasha knew the captain was explaining just what the energy surge on the planet had done to the away team. Which meant that, the moment she and Data followed Doctor Crusher through the doors, all conversation cut off abruptly as everyone turned to look.

Data’s cheeks went pink. Tasha expected that if she were capable of it at that moment, hers would have been too (or yellow? What color would Data even blush?). She took a seat beside Worf, and Data slid into the chair opposite her, next to Geordi, folding his hands on the table in his customary manner. Tasha crossed hers over her chest, leaning back in the chair and trying not to hunch her shoulders. The embarrassment might have been mild in her body, but it mean she didn’t feel it in her head.

Doctor Crusher took the seat on Data’s other side. “Everything checks out, Captain. Physically, they’re both in perfect health.”

Tasha bit back an unprofessional wisecrack about the obvious exception – sure, their bodies were fine, but for the missing brains. Picard glanced between them. “No disorientation? No memory loss?”

Even as Tasha shook her head, Data spoke. “There was initial disorientation at the switch, presumably in response to the change in sensory input. However, it has largely faded, and there appears to be no damage to memory or cognitive ability.”

Even Picard had to stare, and Tasha grinned. It was kind of funny, hearing her voice in Data’s synthesized cadence. She couldn’t keep the humor out of her voice as she confirmed, “We’re alright, Captain. It’s weird, but we’re dealing with it.”

The looks swiveled to her, and Picard cleared his throat. “Yes. Good.” He looked down at the table, composing himself before addressing the room again. “Commander LaForge. Any further analysis of the energy surge that might prove enlightening?”

“No, sir.” Geordi shook his head. “We haven’t been able to track where it came from, and it dissipated pretty much as soon as it hit. As for what it was made of or what exactly it did to Data and Tasha, our sensors mostly seem to be spouting nonsense.”

Tasha felt eyes on her, and she followed them. Deanna was watching her, and Tasha didn’t need to be a Betazoid to sense the curiosity.

Picard’s lips pressed into a thin line. “Alright. I want options.”

“Well, we can keep scanning,” Geordi said. “If it hits again, maybe we can work out what exactly it’s doing, find a way to reverse engineer it. And we can keep going over the data we have, but I’m not convinced we’ll be able to make head or tails of it.” He shrugged. “There’s not much else we can do.”

“What are the odds that this just…goes away on its own?” Riker asked. He glanced between Data and Tasha. “For all we know, their brains might swap back again in their sleep.”

“I do not require sleep, Commander,” Data pointed out. He paused, head cocked, and amended, “At least, my body does not.”

Right. Data was capable of sleeping, but he didn’t need it. Did that mean she shouldn’t do it? She knew Data did, but usually only at her request.

Doctor Crusher was the one who answered properly. “I don’t think this is something that’ll just sort itself out. Their brain patterns are completely transferred. There’s nothing left to reestablish itself, and without a catalyst to _force_ them back, I don’t see any other way to do it.”

“Is that something you could do, Doctor?” Picard asked.

She shook her head. “No. And even if we had the technology, I’d be hesitant to attempt it without knowing what exactly caused the switch in the first place. Switching them back without knowing that could do more damage in the long run. I wouldn’t want to risk it.”

“So our options are to do essentially nothing.” Picard sighed. “Geordi, get your best team on this. Let them know exactly what they’re working on. The rest of you, this doesn’t need to be kept in the dark, but let’s consider not spreading it across the entire ship. I’m sure Lieutenant Yar and Commander Data would prefer not to be the subject of idle gossip under these circumstances.”

Tasha managed not to snort. It wasn’t like people had been particularly subtle about the gossip when it had finally come to light that she and Data were a couple – which was, frankly, the main reason she had been reluctant to reveal it in the first place. The bridge crew had been professional about it – and Tasha would even charitably include Deanna in that, despite the fact that the counselor had taken her aside and asked Tasha if she was _sure_ that this was what she wanted, given Data’s apparent lack of emotionality – but Tasha had caught members of even her own department laughing about it in the gym locker rooms. It had finally started to die down, but this was just the thing to get it kicked up again.

She didn’t say any of that. Instead, she said, “Captain, unless we’re needed, I’d like to request being taken off duty. Just for a shift or two, but I’m a little nervous about the idea of trying to get work done right now. You remember what it was like when Doctor Graves took over Data’s body; I don’t want to crack someone’s head open because I’m not used to Data’s strength.”

“I second that opinion, Captain,” Deanna put in. “Data and Tasha seem to be doing remarkably well, considering the circumstances, but we shouldn’t tax that. They’ll need time to adjust to their new level of ability.”

Picard nodded. “Very well. You’re both off duty for the next twenty-four hours. We’ll reconvene then. With any luck, Geordi’s team will have news for us by then.”

“Thank you, sir.” Tasha stood as Picard dismissed them. In her periphery, she saw Deanna touch Data’s arm, watched him jump at the unexpected contact. She slammed down hard on her auditory sensors; that conversation wasn’t for her to hear.

Geordi slapped her on the back as he passed by her into the corridor, a light and affectionate gesture. “Don’t worry, Tasha. My team’ll work this out, and you’ll be right as rain.”

Tasha knew the phrase, but it still clicked in the back of her mind, and she cocked her head. “Right as rain. First used in the late 1800s, largely in the ancient Earth country of England, although it was preceded by-“ She cut herself off, blinking rapidly. “Okay, that’s really weird.”

Geordi laughed. “For a second, you almost sounded like Data.”

“It just kind of popped into my head.” She glanced back as Data joined them. “Is this what it’s like for you all the time? People just say things, and it triggers something in your memory banks?”

“It is not my memory banks, precisely,” Data told her. “My memories are stored separately from the data I was programmed with. But yes; I am able to anticipate and access information relevant to conversations with great speed, although the programming is lacking in several areas.”

There was a twist to his face that belied discomfort, and guilt pricked at Tasha. She nodded to Geordi, who took the cue to leave, and turned to Data as he walked off. “Hey. Since we’re off duty, why don’t you come back to my quarters? We can talk.”

“If it is alright with you, I believe I would prefer to be alone.”

“Oh.” Tasha couldn’t say her stomach sank. That would imply a physical reaction in her body. But she recognized her own disappointment anyway. “Okay,” she said. “You’re sure?”

Data nodded, and Tasha watched him stride down the corridor, his rhythm skewed just slightly, maybe adjusting for her shorter strides, lower center of balance, or – even more concerning – some emotional reaction. He’d called being in her body a violation. Did he feel the same way about her being in his?

Tasha shook her head, hands curling into fists and then releasing. She was getting better about this, the assuming. She couldn’t assume she knew what Data wanted from her, what he was thinking. She could only know if she asked. And right now, it didn’t seem like Data was in the mood to talk. So Tasha turned, heading instead in the direction of her own quarters. She normally kept them locked – old habits died hard – but Data was one of the few people the doors would open for normally. Tasha wondered if the sensors thought they were accepting her or him.

Absently, she reached for one of the chairs at her table, and then winced as the wood cracked and splintered under her fingers. Gingerly, she released it, and then tried again, taking a seat and folding her hands in her lap. She looked around. Normally when she was taken off duty, it was against her will, and being stuck in quarters – although technically she hadn’t been _confined_ – had a tendency to make her pace. But the urge simply wasn’t there. She just sat, quietly, not even tapping her fingers. She looked down at her hands. God, if Data wasn’t on the floor sobbing, he was probably climbing the walls. _She_ ought to be climbing the walls. Even with most of it muted, she still had a ridiculously advanced brain at her disposal now. How the hell did Data keep himself busy?

Well. She knew. He painted, and played the violin, and did theater, and did the work of three Starfleet officers or more, and studied everything from mathematics to history to every art form ever recorded by the Federation. And he thought. A lot. Tasha remembered Data telling her once that he sometimes regretted his inability to contain his thoughts; even when there were so few of them, it made it difficult for him to ‘live in the moment.’

Tasha felt like all she could do was live in the moment. She’d been sitting there for a grand total of three point three-six seconds and already she could feel boredom creeping it. Tasha didn’t have all of Data’s hobbies at her disposal, and none of her own ways to fill time really seemed appropriate. She couldn’t work, because she’d been taken off duty. She supposed she could go to the gym, although she definitely didn’t want to risk working with a partner and she was a little skeptical of using any of the equipment, because even that was liable to break under Data’s hands if she wasn’t paying attention. She could use the holodeck for a workout, but was that even ethical? Using Data’s body recreationally? He obviously didn’t need to work out, and even though he didn’t sweat, the idea of not showing after a session at the gym was unthinkable to Tasha. Which brought up an entirely _different_ set of ethical concerns.

Besides. Tasha cut off the trail of thought sharply, before it could come to fruition. People didn’t need to see what looked like their second officer wandering the ship, looking dazed and confused. They definitely didn’t need to see him acting like he didn’t have a grip on his own body. Tasha had heard enough of the shitty things people said behind Data’s back to know that she would do anything to stop it from happening. ‘Anything’ usually meant repressing the urge to hit a subordinate, and that was something Tasha really couldn’t risk right now. She was liable to kill someone on accident.

Which left her back at square one. No leaving her quarters. She sighed, more out of habit than because there was any physical urge, and walked over to her computer terminal, instructing it to call up one of the musical compositions she knew Data had been listening to recently. And then a second one overlapping it. Just because she could.

She picked up a PADD, and then dropped back, carefully, onto her bed, sprawling out and accessing the reports she needed to catch up on. She had the time, and it wasn’t like she was so incapable that she couldn’t sign her name. Might as well get through them.

She’d long since finished the reports and was on her third academic journal on the development of defensive forms when her door chimed. She let the PADD drop to her chest. “Computer, who is it?”

“Counselor Deanna Troi.”

Tasha closed her eyes. Yep, that tracked. “Come in.”

The door opened, admitting the counselor, who looked around briefly before catching sight of Tasha through the open bedroom doorway. She smiled as she approached. “Hello, Tasha.”

“Checking up on me?”

“It is my job.”

Tasha nodded, pushing herself upright and crossing her legs under her. “I assume you’re checking up on Data, too.”

“I already have.”

“How is he?”

Deanna pursed her lips. “He’s…handling it.” She dragged the chair over from the computer console, taking a seat and crossing one leg over the other. “But I’m here to talk about you. How are you handling it?”

Tasha snorted. “What, you can’t tell?” She paused. “Wait. Can you?”

“I can still sense your emotions, yes, although not as easily as I usually can. They are registering, but it’s as if someone turned the sensitivity down to almost zero. Presumably because what I’m reading are human brainwaves in an android body.”

“What about Data?”

“Well, Data has android brainwaves in a human body. The effect is largely the same.”

Tasha grinned. As far as she was concerned, that proved Data wasn’t as emotionless as everyone assumed he was. Deanna fixed her with a raised eyebrow, and Tasha sobered, looking down at her hands. She rubbed her thumb into her palm. “I’m doing alright, I guess. It’s weird, not being in my own body. Everything feels…different. But I’m alright.”

“You said that.”

“Well, it’s true!” Tasha hung her head. “I’m just having trouble focusing, is all. The hyper-senses I can deal with, now that Data’s shown me how. Hell, even the emotion thing doesn’t bother me that much. It’s not like I didn’t spend ages repressing mine anyway.”

“But you’ve been doing better with that,” Deanna pointed out. “Some people might struggle with that. They might see this as taking a step in the wrong direction.”

Tasha shook her head. “It’s not that bad. I can handle it. That’s not the problem.”

“Then what is?”

Tasha dug her thumb in harder. It should have hurt, or at least stung a little. It didn’t. “Data thinks _so much_. There’s so much space in his head, and I can barely focus because of how _empty_ it feels. How does he do this all the time?”

“Data is an android,” Deanna reminded her gently. “This is all he’s ever known.” She leaned forward a little in her chair. “He’s also programmed to be able to cope with multiple thoughts at the same time. You aren’t alone; he’s struggling with the opposite of your problem. His own sense of time is distorted, and because he can only focus on one or two things at a time, it feels overwhelming to him.”

Tasha should have reacted to that more. She knew the appropriate response – a squeeze in her chest, right about where the heart should be – but it wasn’t there. “I wanted to stay with him,” she said softly. “Wait this out together. But he didn’t want to talk to me.”

“Data is feeling particularly vulnerable right now. Being human has been a desire of his for a long time, but wanting to achieve a thing and having it suddenly thrust upon you are not the same.” Deanna wrapped her hands around her knee. “Knowing you as he does, he is struggling with the implications of feeling those things in your body.”

Tasha stared. That was what Data was worried about? That she was going to get upset with him because he’d been dropped into her body against his will? She shook her head. “It’s not his fault.”

“You and I know that, but Data is struggling to come to terms with it.” Deanna tilted her head slightly, eyebrows raised. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“Being in Data’s body. Does that raise ethical concerns for you?”

Tasha opened her mouth, and then closed it again. She gave half a shrug. “I guess? I’m…mostly worried about what the crew will think if they see me as him. Data’s already looked down on by a lot of people. I don’t want to contribute to that.” She hesitated. “And. I mean. You know.”

Deanna’s expression told Tasha that she absolutely did know, but she was going to make Tasha say it. Tasha groaned, tucking her knees to her chest and dropping her forehead against them. “I’m in my boyfriend’s body,” she muttered. “And it’s really fucking h- really fucking difficult not to think about sex in that context.”

Deanna’s smile was knowing. Tasha kind of hated it a little. The counselor shifted, uncrossing her legs and resting her hands on her knees. “There’s nothing wrong with feeling arousal, Tasha.”

“I’m not, though?” And that was kind of bizarre, because Tasha knew what her sex drive was like, and even just not thinking about sex shouldn’t have been enough to turn it off like this. “I knew Data didn’t experience sexual attraction the same way, but…”

“His body isn’t responding physically,” Deanna surmised. “There’s a disconnect, and that’s disconcerting for you.”

Tasha should have been squirming. She wasn’t. “It’s just a little weird. I know how my body reacts to things. But this isn’t my body, and it’s not doing any of that.” She looked at the counselor. “He’s having that problem too, isn’t he? God, no wonder he’s freaking out.”

Deanna smiled, a perfect, professional counselor smile. “I know I haven’t always been the most supportive of your relationship with Data, but it’s obvious he cares for you a great deal. And I think, that while Data may be saying that he doesn’t want to see you right now, what might be best for him, and for you, is to talk about this.”

“Is that your opinion as my friend, or as a counselor?”

“Both.” Deanna stood. “In this respect, you really are the only two people who can help each other.”

Slowly, Tasha nodded. She gave Deanna a small smile. “Thanks. That means a lot.”

“Let’s just hope this adjustment is temporary,” Deanna teased lightly. She strolled to the doorway, and then turned back. “And if you have anything you need to talk about, you know my door is always open.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Deanna left, and Tasha pushed herself off the bed. Odds were good she knew where Data was, but just in case: “Computer, locate Commander Data.”

“Lieutenant Commander Data is in Lieutenant Yar’s quarters.”

Right. Tasha thumbed the commbadge on her chest, then raised a hand to run her fingers over the three pips. Clearly, they hadn’t switched commbadges while she’d been unconscious. Which mean she still had Data’s. “Computer, locate Lieutenant Yar.”

“Lieutenant Yar is in Lieutenant Commander Data’s quarters.”

Which was what she had expected. Tasha headed for the door, determined, and then stopped as a flash in her peripheral vision caught her eye. She turned towards the mirror. She cocked her head. Data’s yellow eyes blinked back at her, face almost expressionless. She took a step towards the mirror and watching the image approach in turn. She touched the glass, and her fingertips met Data’s. It shouldn’t have been startling – and there was no flutter in her chest, no twist of her stomach to confirm that as the emotion she was feeling – but even _knowing_ , objectively, that she was in Data’s body, was different from seeing it so completely.

She lifted a hand, tracing it lightly over the collarbone, down her chest, and watched the movement in the mirror. She knew all the planes of Data’s body, but they were alien at this angle, like the difference between looking at an optical illusion head on and changing the perspective to make the trick meaningless. She looked down, hand skating to a nervous halt at her abdomen. She’d seen Data like this once or twice, with her chin on his shoulder as she plastered herself to his back, arms wrapped around him. She didn’t know if she should be relieved or concerned that the memory didn’t have the usual effect.

She pulled her hands away, clenching them into fists before she could get into any trouble. She was going to talk to Data, maybe to reassure him, maybe to give a dressing down – a scolding, she corrected in her head, because that phrase was drawing up images that she didn’t need to get distracted by. She steeled herself, straightening her posture until it was perfect, bordering on stiff. She uncurled her hands and let them hang at her side, and she allowed her face to go completely blank. Then she turned, and strode out of the room.

If there was any whispering in the corridors, the people Tasha passed waited until they were out of android earshot to do it. She got a couple nods, and she returned them, but mostly it wasn’t any different than walking down the corridor in her own body. She made it to Data’s quarters and stopped, waiting politely outside the doors as the chime rang inside. The soundproofing was good; Tasha was pretty sure she could hear that the room was occupied, but no hint as to what the occupant was doing.

After a minute – actually thirty-seven seconds – without a response, Tasha rang the bell again. She glanced around, but the hallway was empty. “Data, I know you’re in there.”

The door opened, but Data wasn’t waiting on the other side. Tasha stepped in, and let the doors close behind her. “If I’d been Captain Picard, I might be offended.”

“I am off duty,” Data mumbled. He was sitting practically in the dark, the lights on low, curled up on his sofa with the blanket usually reserved for Tasha’s visits thrown over him.

Tasha took a seat on the couch, nudging gently at his legs to make room. Data tucked them in, curling into a full fetal position. Tasha had never realized her body could look so small. She set a gentle hand on his leg. “Deanna said you weren’t doing so good.”

“I am alright.”

“You don’t look alright.”

Data’s face was tucked in, too obscured for Tasha to really make out even with Data’s advanced senses. His words were muffled, but still clearly understandable for an android. “I am human,” he muttered. “Even temporarily, this should be a pleasing experience for me. I am finding it is not.”

Tasha rubbed his leg. “Is it because it’s my body? Or something else?”

“Experiencing human emotion is overwhelming. Your body has needs I have never experienced. Hunger. Exhaustion. If it were my own, I believe I would find the sensations exciting, even the ones construed as negative, because they are new to me. But since it is not my body…” Data tapered off, and Tasha heard him swallow hard. “I am…frightened. I do not wish to…break you.”

“Break me?”

“It is significantly easier for me to damage your body than for you to damage mine.” Data shuddered. “I wish to take care of it, but I do not know how.”

“Sure you do,” Tasha murmured. She gave his leg a little squeeze, and hoped she wasn’t using too much pressure. “You always take such good care of me, Data.”

“When I am in possession of my own mind, and can reference human needs and accommodate. Like this…”

“I know, I know,” Tasha teased. “I’m a slow, empty-headed human, and I can’t compete with your big, android brain.”

“I did not mean it like that.”

Tasha smiled. There was a feeling in her chest, like her heart hurt, but not quite. “I know,” she said. She quieted, contemplating. “You said it felt like a violation, being in my body. Is that what you meant? The thing about not breaking me?”

“That is part of it.”

“What’s the rest?”

Data shifted, just enough to look at her. He looked close to tears, and Tasha’s chest did the funny not-quite-hurt thing again. Data was getting to be human. He should have been experiencing laughter, joy. Instead he was crying and afraid. It wasn’t fair.

“You have an aversion to being out of control,” Data said softly, cutting through the silence. Tasha blinked as he continued. “It is understandable. You have traumatic associations with other people controlling your body, using it for their own purposes.”

Tasha had to hand it to Data; he’d managed to find something that shut down her brain entirely. Dumbfounded, it took a moment to find her voice. “You think…you really believe that this is anywhere close to the same thing?”

“I am in control of your body in the most literal sense of the phrase. I could do anything with it, and you would have no power to stop me.”

Tasha wanted to laugh. It didn’t exactly bubble up in her, uncontrollable, but she let it out anyway. Data pushed himself half-upright, staring at her. Tasha shook her head. “First of all, Data, I am so much stronger than you right now. If I didn’t like what you were doing with my body, I’m pretty sure I could find a way to make you stop.”

Data looked away, but Tasha kept going, “Second of all, I _trust you_. We’re partners. If you didn’t take advantage of me when you were in your body, with all of its strength, why would I be worried about you doing it now?”

“My programming-“

“Look me in the eye and tell me the only reason you treat me right is because you’re programmed to. Just try it.”

Data stared down at the floor. He curled up tighter at his end of the sofa and said nothing. Tasha sighed. “Look, I don’t know what to say. You didn’t exactly ask to be dropped into my body, any more than I asked to be put in yours. It’s not your fault, and it’s not going to traumatize me if you do more than mope around on the couch.” She pulled her hand away, squeezing her fingers together. “You’re right. I don’t like to be out of control. But you’re one of the few people I am willing to give control to, because I know you won’t abuse that trust.” She looked at him. “If nothing else, I really wanted this to be a good experience for you, baby. It’s completely crazy, but you actually get to be human. I hoped you’d enjoy that.”

“I…am starting to.” Tasha knew that look, on her face and Data’s. It was a tiny smile, but it was genuine. He sat up, tucking the blanket more securely around him. “You are really not upset?”

“Well, I’d be lying if I said I’m not looking forward to swapping back. But no. I’m not mad. Especially not with you.”

Data swayed forward slightly, and then caught himself, pressing his back against the couch. Tasha was pretty sure she understood; if it hadn’t felt a little strange to kiss her own body, she might have made the gesture first. She looked away and cleared her throat, not because she had to but because it was a cue they both could recognize. “I thought it’d be weirder. Being in a male body.”

Data looked intrigued, his eyebrows raising as his head cocked. “There are not as many anatomical differences across the human species as basic categorization would suggest. Even the distinction of ‘male’ and ‘female’ is relatively arbitrary, and does not take into account the diversity-“

Tasha laughed again, cutting him off, “Okay, let me rephrase. I thought it’d be weirder to get stuck in a body that’s _categorized_ as being opposite my own. The way some people talk, you’d think we’d switch pronouns too or something. Like me being in your body would turn me into a man.”

“I am surprised that humanity has not made greater strides in deconstructing gender and sex,” Data agreed. “You do not have to be an exobiologist to comprehend the spectrums that exist for both.”

“But of course, you _are_ ,” Tasha teased. She’d always been amused by Data’s specialized areas of study. It was just so…Data. “Well, I can definitely confirm: switching bodies does not fuck with gender.”

“I am a little surprised to hear you admit it,” Data said. He was studying her in that way of his. Somehow, the affect was just as piercing even through her eyes. “You are the first person to admit your struggles with traditional definitions of femininity.”

Tasha snorted. “Femininity, sure. But that’s different. I might not always feel like a ‘proper’ woman, but I’m definitely a woman.” She sobered a little, and gave a shrug. “I’m…working on it.” With Data’s help, and Deanna’s, Tasha could definitely say she was most comfortable with herself than she had ever been before. Turkana wasn’t a great place to be a woman, especially not a traditionally feminine one. She was still sorting out which pieces she had blocked out to avoid the trauma, and which she was actually interested in pursuing.

She turned the question back on Data. “What about you? It’s not like we haven’t talked about gender before. I know it’s a little different for you than it is for me.”

Data shrugged. “Doctor Soong constructed me with the intent that I would be male. I do enjoy presenting as such. It feels appropriate. However, internally, I do not believe I experience a specified gender. The human term ‘agender’ may be most appropriate.” He looked down at his hands, tracing her shorter fingers over each other. “I am not experiencing any particular dysmorphia in your form, but I do still feel I identify the same.”

“Mmm, gender two, idiots zero,” Tasha joked. She bumped Data’s shoulder lightly with her own. “Hey. I know my body is a little…excitable. I don’t want you to feel guilty about that, you know.”

Data looked like he’d been caught in a tractor beam, his eyes going wide as he froze. He stammered, “I-“ He stopped, swallowing hard. “I have been trying not to think about it.”

“Tell me about it.” Tasha looked down at herself. “I know you didn’t really get…you know, turned on the same way, but I’m kind of shocked I’ve had this much control over it.”

“I am capable of registering stimulus I find erotic without reacting sexually,” Data said. Which Tasha already knew. He looked curious, almost nervous. “Have you…?”

Tasha shook her head. “I figured a ‘no touch’ policy was probably best until I got a chance to ask. I mean, it’s not like I haven’t seen it all before, but I didn’t want to cross any lines.”

“There are no lines you could cross, where this is concerned.” Data’s voice – her voice – was entirely too earnest. Tasha winced a little; she remembered being that eager to please. But she was past that, she reminded herself. That was just how Data was. He squirmed a little, and Tasha realized his cheeks were flushed, almost hidden in the dark. Hidden to human eyes, anyway.

Carefully, she ventured, “If…if you wanted to…”

Data’s eyes widened comically. He crossed his legs, hands tight in his lap. “It would not be…weird, for you?”

Tasha gave it an honest moment’s consideration. They were in each other’s bodies, which in some ways was kind of like having sex with yourself. Did that make her an egotist if it turned her on? She felt some vague sense of arousal, but it was hard to tell. Her body was usually pretty loud about cluing her in – in Data’s case, well before she’d been willing to admit her attraction to him – but it was different like this. But knowing intimately now just how Data experienced the world, and knowing that he was currently in a body with nerve endings so sensitive he could only dream of…

Well, Data couldn’t actually dream, but the thought still counted. A thought took hold of Tasha, the need to make him squirm, to watch him absolutely lose it with pleasure. “No,” she said softly. “It wouldn’t be weird for me.”

Data’s tongue darted out, wetting his lips. It was probably a subconscious gesture, but Tasha tracked the motion with her eyes. This wasn’t hunger she was feeling, but they were kindred sensations. “It would not be weird for me either,” Data said, but the words were almost an afterthought; he was watching her lips too.

Tasha took the initiative, and having to lean down to kiss Data was…incredible. She closed her eyes, threading her fingers through his hair, trying to be careful, trying to pay enough attention even as Data’s lips parted for her, her tongue sweeping in. She ignored the part of her brain categorizing saliva composition – it was incredible that Data ever managed to be turned on by sex if that was a typical response, Tasha thought with amusement – and focused on the choked whine that spilled from his throat, the way his pulse jumped under her ministrations, blood heating the skin as it rushed to the surface.

“I’m going to make you feel so good,” she breathed against his lips, and the exhalation sent a shiver through his body. She broke the kiss, resting her forehead against his, and it should have been weird, looking into her own eyes and seeing her pupils blown with desire, but all Tasha could think about was that it was _Data_ behind those eyes, Data who was feeling her touch and reacting so beautifully to it.

“You should-“ The words stuck, and Data had to try again, breathless. “You should activate my sexuality program.”

Tasha grinned. “I don’t exactly need it to make you feel good. That’s my body, remember?” She stroked her fingers lightly over the curve of skin behind her ear, and was rewarded with another shudder. “I know every button to press.”

Data’s eyes were half-closed, biting down hard on his bottom lip, just shy of drawing blood. “That…that was not…my intent.”

“Oh?”

He took a breath, and it was enough for him to regain some semblance of control. He set a hesitant hand on her thigh. “I do not register stimulus as sexually pleasurable unless the program is on. If you wish to enjoy this as a sexual act, you will have to activate it.”

“And if I don’t?”

Data’s flush deepened at the grin in her voice. “I suspect you will enjoy it anyway, just in a different way.”

Tasha nipped a kiss to Data’s ear, the way that always made her writhe and soak her panties. With Data’s olfactory senses, she could confirm: mission accomplished. He sucked in a sharp breath, and she purred in his ear, “That’s one of us officially turned on. Want to walk me through the other one?”

Data let out a shaky exhale. The hand on her thigh tightened, but Tasha suspected that was more to ground Data than anything else. He was shaking slightly, she realized, and reveled in the power of it. 

“The programming should be attempting to activate,” Data murmured. He sounded thoroughly wrecked, and she had hardly touched him. “I often activate it manually at this point.”

Tasha could feel it, somewhere in the periphery of her consciousness. “What about when you don’t?”

“You can either lock the function, and that will prevent it from coming online. Or…” He blushed again. Tasha was shocked he had any blood _left_ to be turned on with, and it was kind of satisfying to know that given the opportunity to demonstrate it, Data was incredibly easy to embarrass. It was astonishingly endearing.

“Or what?” she prompted, tracing her fingers down his throat and over his collarbone. She’d never thought of her skin as particularly soft, but it was, a great deal more so than the uniform they both still wore.

“When left unlocked, physical stimulation can activate the programming as well,” Data managed. He swallowed. “Should I…?”

“Do you want to?” God, she hoped the answer was yes. Apparently at least _some_ of her sex drive had transferred over.

Data hesitated. “I do not wish to make you uncomfortable-“

“Data,” Tasha cut him off. She cupped his face, stroking a stray lock of hair back out of it and waiting until he made eye contact. “You can always ask me for things. That hasn’t changed. I’ll tell you if I don’t want it.”

“I wish to perform oral sex on you.”

Tasha’s breath caught. She could understand Data questioning that; he might have loved going down on her, but Tasha had always shied firmly away from blowing him. They’d tried it, once, when Tasha was feeling adventurous. Once had been enough.

But while it might have been her mouth, she wasn’t exactly the one who was going to use it. Well. A smirk slid across her face. Not in that sense. She pet Data’s hair. “You want to suck me, baby? Get me nice and hard for you?”

Data bit back a sob, and oh yeah. Apparently dirty talk was still firmly on the table. Tasha fumbled for the zip on her uniform, peeling out of the shirt and dropping it over the arm of the couch. She sat back, crooking a finger for Data to come closer, and kissing him again when he did. His hands were hesitant at first, just resting at her waistband. Tasha retaliated by pushing up his shirt, getting her hand on bare skin and stroking. Data gasped into her mouth, and Tasha grinned. It might have been her body, but feeling Data so small, so fragile in comparison to her…it was about as much of a turn-on as she could get. She pushed him away just a little, guiding him down, because Data loved taking direction no matter what body he was in. He pulled her out, and yeah, the hand on her cock was a little weird, and it took a second of mental mathematics to adjust.

That second was made significantly easier by Data lowering his head and taking the tip of her cock into his mouth. Tasha sucked in a breath as he hollowed his cheeks, tonguing the head with, while not quite his usual expertise, a very familiar enthusiasm. He curled a hand around the shaft, stroking what wasn’t in his mouth, and Tasha felt her body stir, the program pressing more insistently at the back of her mind. She held off, staring at him in wonder as Data pressed farther down, his lips following his hand, until Tasha felt the head of her cock bump against the back of his throat. He swallowed, and Tasha couldn’t stop herself. Data choked a little at the unexpected pressure as she swelled in his throat, backing off and then diving down again before Tasha could apologize, and as she hardened the pleasure took on a decidedly sexual note. Tasha bit back a groan of appreciation, her fingers tightening in Data’s hair as she fought not to pull him down harder, to fuck into his perfect mouth.

“Fuck, baby, that’s perfect,” she panted, and Data moaned at the praise, the vibrations racing up Tasha’s spine. She cradled his cheek, feeling the length of her through the skin, and Data sucked in earnest. Something in Tasha’s core felt hot, like she was overheating, but it was a good feeling. “You’re so good for me,” she whispered. “Always so good. Look at how well you’re taking me.”

Data let out a whine, and Tasha shushed him, petting at his hair and back. She pushed him away, gently, and Data made a sound of protest as he tried to fight it, but Tasha was stronger. She wrapped a hand around her cock, giving it an experimental tug, swiping her thumb under the head. Her reaction was muted – Data usually gasped – but she could feel herself leaking into her hand, precum beading up at the touch. Data’s eyes tracked the movement like he was starving, and Tasha grinned.

She arched up on her knees, pushing Data back into the sofa cushions, bracketing his smaller body with her own. She paused, looking for any signs of panic in his eyes, but there were none. Data’s pupils were completely shot, swollen almost to black out the iris. He was sweating, his hair damp against his forehead. Tasha trailed a hand up the inside of his thigh, guiding them apart, and at the juncture found that damp too.

“You’re so wet for me,” she murmured. “How does it feel?”

“Tasha, _please_.”

“You want me to touch you?” she teased. She leaned in to nibble at his lower lip. “I know what I’m like when you tease me. When I’m wet and aching and all I want is for you to slide something, _anything_ inside me. Can you feel it? How desperately my body wants it?” She pressed her fingers harder against his groin, searching through the fabric until they found their mark, and Data cried out when she pressed down. “That’s it,” she breathed. “Do you remember the first time we had sex, baby?”

“I-“

“You made me come so many times,” Tasha purred. She felt a thrill of delight just remembering it. “Do you remember how many? Do you still have access to that information?”

“Seven,” Data panted.

Tasha grinned. “It felt like more.” She pressed her fingers lower, sweeping, keeping her thumb firm where it was. “I’d never come that hard in my _life_. And you, baby, you just kept _giving_.” She’d been crying by the end of it, and it had been the first time in her life that Tasha was actually thrilled to cry. Sex had never been so overwhelming without fear, without pressure. It had never felt that good. Crying – and the complete bone-limp exhaustion afterwards, her body so oversensitive that even gentle touch had almost been too much to handle – had been a small price to pay.

Data’s chest was heaving, fighting for breath as he rocked down into her hand, grinding against it. “I…I enjoy…”

“I know,” she crooned. “You like giving me pleasure.”

“That…that is accurate…” Data moaned, head tipping back against the sofa. Tasha nipped at the exposed length of his neck. She was tempted to suck a bruise into it – Data never did that – but he was still completely zipped up, and Tasha had enough sense to know that it would be more embarrassing to get a dermal regenerator from sickbay. Later, she promised herself. She couldn’t mark Data up when he was in his body, since android skin didn’t bruise. She was damned if she was going to waste this opportunity.

“I know I can come like this,” she murmured, scraping her teeth against a straining tendon, even as she worked her fingers against him. “Which means, right now, you can too.” Her cock ached at the thought, and Tasha shoved that to the back of her mind, focusing on the tricks she knew that got her off, until Data cried out, thrashing against her hand. As orgasms went, over-the-clothes rarely yielded intense results for Tasha, but Data looked completely wrecked when he slumped back against the sofa, breathing heavily.

Tasha grinned. “Well. That’s one down.” She bit her lip, eyebrows raised. “Want to bet I can get six more out of you?”

Data keened, and Tasha laughed. She stroked Data’s cheek, and Data turned into the touch, eyes closing as he nuzzled into her hand. “We’ll see,” she said softly. Her arousal was still buzzing, but it was a low sizzle in the background, overtaken by a wave of fondness. “Come on,” she murmured. “Let’s get you out of uniform, huh?”

She helped Data push himself into a more upright position. He looked dazed, and when he kept fumbling with the zipper Tasha nudged his hands away and did it herself, peeling him out of the top, followed by the practical bra. Data managed to collect himself enough for the pants and underwear, and Tasha stripped her own off as well. Pants, that was. Data didn’t typically wear underwear.

“How are your thighs?” she asked, massaging gently at the flesh. “Sore yet?”

Data shook his head, and Tasha dropped a kiss to the inside of his knee. “Tell me if they start to hurt, alright? I know my limits better than you do, and I don’t want you in pain.”

“I will tell you.”

“Good.” Tasha smiled. She settled herself, bracing most of her weight so it wasn’t on Data. It put her head between his thighs which, honestly, wasn’t a typical position for her. She looked up at Data, contemplating, and Data bracing himself on his forearms, studying her.

“Don’t grab my hair, okay?” Tasha whispered. She bit her lip, suddenly nervous. She knew Data wouldn’t ask this of her, but it had been years since she’d done this – and her roommate at the academy had absolutely loved it, even if Tasha had mixed feelings about it afterwards – and Tasha was pretty sure she could do this with Data and still feel good.

Data’s legs tightened, drawing her forward a little, and he cupped the back of her neck. “I will be careful,” he murmured, and it was as much a promise as a bid for her to do the same. Tasha nodded, and the hand disappeared, Data bracing himself up to watch her.

Tasha started slow, the way she knew she liked, with gradual kisses up the inside of Data’s thighs. This was safer territory, in a number of ways, and Tasha’s lips curved into a wicked smile before she sucked a biting kiss into the skin, Data’s breath catching as it drew blood to the surface, marking him. Marking her body. She left a trail of them, first up one thigh, then the other, dragging it out slower and slower as she reached the juncture where thigh met hip, laving her tongue over the crease and making Data squirm. She let her eyes drift upwards; Data’s fists were clenched, his thighs trembling, biting his lip hard. This time, Tasha could smell the prick of blood. She grinned.

Data cried out when she pressed two fingers between his folds, spreading him open to make room for her tongue. She wasn’t sure if it was his programming or her old knowledge coming back, but it was almost muscle memory to lick up the center of him, flattening her tongue to stimulate as many nerve endings as possible. His hips bucked, and she pinned him down with one hand, using the other to stroke and trace patterns, her chin soon dripping with his wetness. She groaned eagerly, and Data’s back arched at the feeling against him. Hands surged down, clinging to her shoulders, but that was alright. Tasha speared her tongue in, pressing past the lips, and Data sobbed, high and gorgeous, rising in pitch when she tilted her head just so, just the way she remembered, and her nose hooked against his clit, adding to the stimulation. She felt him convulse, recognized the peak, and pressing two fingers in beside her tongue, crooking them to rub at just the right spot along her walls to push him into a second wave, letting his hips up in favor of grinding her thumb against his clit, letting him jackknife against her as the waves washed over him. She licked in deeper, not letting up, scissoring her fingers apart, and god, she was aching to get inside him. He was hot, wet, cleaving for her touch, welcoming her into his body, rippling with the pleasure she was giving him. She whined low in her throat, backing away only to press her forehead against Data’s stomach, panting hard in an attempt to cool herself down. Data clenched down around the fingers, and she withdrew them, bracing herself on the sofa.

“Fuck,” she whispered, and Data hummed an assent. His breaths were uneven, broken, and Tasha lifted her head to look at him. He was flat against the couch, his eyes squeezed shut. Tasha pushed herself upright, rubbing the backs of her fingers against his thigh. “Still good?”

The words came out a little at a time, like Data had to force himself to get them past his lips. “This is what it is always like for you?”

Tasha laughed. She sat back, fondling her cock absently, stroking the wetness along the shaft. Data self-lubricated too, and wasn’t that fun? “The first time you did it? Absolutely.”

“Just the first time?”

Tasha grinned, and pressed another kiss to his knee. “Trust me, baby. I wouldn’t be able to function if every time was like that. Don’t worry, I’m pretty confident you’re still the best lay on the ship. Probably in the quadrant.”

“You are certainly giving me…a run for my money?” He turned his head to the side, pressing it into the sofa. “I am not certain I can take seven times of that.”

“Well, we’re at, what, three?” Tasha stroked his calves, her hands settled on his ankles as a grounding force. “We can call it four, if you want to be generous.”

“ _Please_.”

“I’ll be nice.” Tasha rested her cheek on Data’s knee, nuzzling into the skin. It didn’t feel weird at all anymore. It just felt right. “How about this?” she teased. “We’ll call this four, and if you think you can take it, I’ll bet I can make you come hard enough that it’s gonna feel like it should count for the last three. How does that sound?”

“I am in your hands.”

Tasha melted a little. Unfailingly, Data was sweet. She nudged him. “On your side, baby. Or your thighs are going to be killing you tomorrow, and it won’t be fun then.”

He obeyed, the sofa just big enough for Tasha to spoon up behind him if she pressed close and wrapped an arm around his waist, securing him against her. Her cock slipped against his ass, pressing into the crack, and Data tensed slightly, but Tasha pet at his sides, murmuring soft platitudes, and he relaxed. “It’s okay,” she told him. 

“I am not in distress.”

She grinned, pressing a kiss to the back of his neck. “Good.” She reached a hand between them, angling her cock lower, nudging Data’s legs apart just enough to slip into the space between them, the head pressing up against his folds. Data was absolutely drenched, and she wasn’t much better, but there was no urgency to her movements. She rocked against him lightly, and felt his breath hitch. “Still good?”

“I…” Data took in a long inhale. “I believe the phrase is, ‘do not tease.’”

“It’s not teasing, baby,” Tasha purred. She cupped a breast, thumbing his nipple, and Data bit back a moan, the sound only forcing its way out when she pinched the hardened bud, twisting it just a little before soothing it with a softer massage. He arched against her, squirming, fighting back little sounds of pleasure as she toyed with him. Her cock slid, slick and aching, between his thighs, and every little rut had him clenching, shifting, like he was trying to get the angle just right for her to slip inside. Tasha knew, because she’d done it before. She nipped at his earlobe. “That’s not going to work.”

“ _Tasha_.”

“You don’t get my cock until I think you’re ready, okay?” She pinched his nipple again, then stroked down his ribs. “You always make me feel so good, baby. I just want to make sure I do the same.”

Data whimpered, and Tasha took pity. She let her hand skate even lower, tracing around the shape of her cock, scratching just lightly against his folds before she took herself in hand, shifting to get the angle just right. She bit back a groan when the head pressed in, but Data didn’t, crying out with relief as she slid in, grabbing his hips so he wouldn’t try to force it as she hilted herself.

It was different. The sensation of Data wrapped around her, his channel clenching, drawing her in…she’d penetrated him before, but never with a cock that was her own. She wanted to bury herself in that slick heat and stay there.

“ _Oh_ ,” Data breathed. “That’s…”

“So good you’re using contractions?” Tasha teased. She rocked in, a slow grind, and groaned. “ _God,_ yeah. I can see the appeal.” It wasn’t as sensitive as she normally was, but Data more than made up for it with his reaction, his clenched jaw doing nothing to stop the sounds of pleasure escaping his lips, his eyes screwed shut against the onslaught of sensation. Tasha kissed his jawline, behind his ear, everywhere she could reach in slow, sweet kisses. “I know,” she murmured when Data whimpered, clenching down around her, trying to fight her grip, to get her to move. “I know. Give it a minute.” Her body might have been old hat at this, but this was, in a lot of ways, Data’s first time. And it wasn’t just that she wanted him to adjust to the feeling. Data felt amazing, absolutely perfect around her, and Tasha couldn’t afford to lose her head. It wasn’t just that it was her body she’d be breaking; the idea of doing that to Data, of all people, was unthinkable.

She gave it a minute, offering alternate sensations as a pacifism: thumbing gently at his clit, stroking his stomach and thighs, and kissing every part of him that she could reach. It settled him, and he stopped fighting her, surrendering into the touch, still letting out little whimpers, until Tasha murmured, “Okay.”

He cried out at the first thrust. Tasha kept it long and dragging, not pulling out too far, gritting her teeth as she rubbed against his walls, the sensation going right to her balls, tight and heavy already. But Data’s body had stellar control, even when she was the one guiding it, and Tasha picked up the pace when she felt ready, giving Data longer thrusts, harder ones that ground against him, made him gasp and groan and fuck back against her with what leverage he had. Tasha adjusted the angle, and grinned when she knew she’d gotten it right, nailing that spot that made her see stars. Data practically screamed, and she kept up, driving into that spot over and over again, her thumb moving more firmly over his clit.

The dual sensation was enough to make Data sob, his head tilted back enough for Tasha to suck more bruises into his neck, just below the collar line. She groaned against his neck, grunting eagerly as she drilled into him, feeling him clench around him as she pushed him higher and higher. The heat was almost unbearable, and it went straight to her core, burning hot, everything in her crackling with electricity, desperate to release.

“I want to come inside you,” she panted in Data’s ear. “Can I do that, baby? Would you let me?”

“Yes, Tasha, _please_.”

He always asked so sweetly, and it was even sweeter now, in her voice, absolutely wrecked with pleasure. She shifted, android-fast, up onto her knees, dragging his hips back into hers to fuck deeper, her thumb blurring against his clit until Data shrieked, his body convulsing around her as orgasm hit, and Tasha groaned and let go, her cock swelling and jerking inside him as she fucked him through it, drawing his orgasm out until Data was whimpering, shivering with sensitivity. She slowed, gradually, and then stopped, marveling at the feeling of her cum dripping out around her cock, leaking onto the sofa as she softened inside him. Data was still shaking, and Tasha realized that it was only her arm, wrapped securely around his stomach, that was keeping him upright. Carefully, she pulled out, Data hissing sharply through his teeth as she did so, lowering him down until he could sprawl against the cushions, his eyes closed, faint wet tracks running down the length of his cheeks.

She watched him. There was a sense of satisfaction, of pleasure humming through her circuitry, but her body was already cooling, like a switch had been flipped. It probably had, in a sense; Tasha was pretty sure the sexuality programming had deactivated. She stroked careful fingers along Data’s spine, and he let out a soft sigh. She smiled. “How are you feeling?”

“I believe this is what you call the ‘afterglow?’”

“That’s right.”

“It is nice.”

Tasha laughed. “I’m going to take it as a compliment that the best word you can come up with for it is ‘nice.’”

Data made a muffled sound that wasn’t anything in particular. A confirmation, maybe. He snuggled into the couch, and Tasha felt another wave of affection. “Hey,” she murmured, nudging him gently. “Come on. Up.”

“Why?”

It wasn’t quite a whine, but it was close enough that Tasha had to bite her lip against how cute it was coming from Data. “We’re not going far,” she promised. She stood, striding naked across the room to fetch a washcloth from the bathroom, wetting it and cleaning herself up first before she returned for Data. She lifted him, marveling at how light he was. Was this how Data felt when he lifted her? Tasha had always found it kind of a turn-on, but there was something…secure about having him in her arms. She cleaned him up a little, then deposited him on the floor gently, into a little nest made of the discarded blanket. Data wrapped it around himself, curling up while Tasha took care of the damp couch cushions. She left the washcloth in the bathroom and went instead to the replicator.

Data murmured another complaint when she guided him up into a sitting position. She let him lean heavily on her, and cupped his cheek. “Here.”

He made a questioning sound, opening his eyes when Tasha pressed a glass of water into his hand. “You’re going to want it,” she told him. She was willing to bet, as nervous as he’d been when she came in, that he hadn’t eaten or drank anything since he’d been in her body, and after a workout like that, he would need to rehydrate.

The water had the added benefit of calming him; as he sipped it, it seemed to bring Data back into himself, out of the haze of sex and pleasure. He blinked sleepily at her. “I am sorry.”

“Why, baby?”

“I…do not know.” Data tilted his head, brow furrowing. Tasha watched him try to process, and she felt a little pity. It couldn’t be easy, going from a brain like his to one like hers. It wasn’t like the reverse was a picnic either. Finally, he said, “I was unfocused on your pleasure. I admit I am…still somewhat overwhelmed.”

Tasha smiled. “Data, it’s fine. You’ve never had sex in a human body before. I’m a little surprised you’re even coherent right now.”

As if to prove her point, he yawned, then blinked, as if the motion had startled him. “I…”

She pressed a kiss to his forehead. “You were perfect for me, baby. All I wanted was for you to feel good.”

“You accomplished that.”

Data’s tone was still a little starstruck, and it made Tasha laugh again. She nudged the half-empty glass. “Alright. Finish that, then you can take a nap, alright? You’ve earned it.”

She tucked him in with the blanket on the sofa, then redressed in Data’s uniform. She hesitated, touching the pips at her collar, before ultimately leaving them as they were. She pressed a kiss to Data’s temple, promising that she’d be right back, but it was more for her own benefit than Data’s. He was already asleep.

Her commbadge beeped, and she hit it. Riker’s voice echoed over the channel. “Riker to Data.”

“Data’s asleep,” she told him, and amused herself by picturing Riker do a double take. “Can I help you, Commander?”

“Sorry, Tasha. It’s not important, it’ll keep until morning.” He signed off, and Tasha finished the walk back to her quarters.

Showering in Data’s body was an odd kind of luxury. Water felt completely different on her skin, the bioplast not only less sensitive, but unattuned to the natural impulse of the human brain to enjoy being submerged. She could feel every droplet as it rolled over her, and by the time she stepped out, Tasha could understand why Data – who didn’t really need to get clean the way she did – enjoyed showering with her, even when sex wasn’t involved.

She snagged a clean uniform for Data, because he wouldn’t have any in her size, and grabbed a pillow off her bed. With both in hand, she made her was back to his quarters. He didn’t stir when she entered the room, nor when Tasha lifted his head gently, tucking the pillow under it. She took a seat on the floor by the sofa, tucking one leg against her chest and wrapping her arms around it. The lights were still low, but she could see without trouble. Between the sex and the hours fading into ship’s night, Tasha knew she should have felt tired. But of course, she didn’t. Should she sleep anyway? Data did have a sleep mode, like a computer. It would be better than spending the next few hours trying to think of things to do. She had no idea what Data did while she slept – when she didn’t convince him to sleep too. Work, probably. Or painting, maybe? She had no inclination to do either, and so after a little work to intuit the sleep settings, Tasha set herself to wake up at any sign of Data returning to consciousness, and let herself drift off.

She didn’t dream. She hadn’t expected to, but she also hadn’t expected to wake up what felt like seconds later, perfectly alert without any grogginess, her internal chronometer informing her that she’d been out for seven hours, fourteen minutes, and two seconds. On the sofa, Data was stirring, his eyes squinting open blearily. “Good morning,” Tasha teased.

“How long…?”

“Just over seven hours,” she told him. “Apparently, you needed it.” A hint of smugness flickered through her. Turnabout was definitely fair play. She softened. “Did you sleep well?”

Data pushed himself upright, baring his skin so Tasha could see the bruises she’d covered him with the night before. It should have sent a thrill through her, and intellectually it did, but there was no accompanying physical sensation. It surprised her: she’d spent years feeling frustrated her sex drive, but already she was starting to miss it.

Data’s answer cut off that line of thought. He rubbed at his eyes, frowning. “I did not dream.”

“I don’t, usually,” Tasha admitted. “Sorry.”

“It is alright.” Data sounded disappointed. Tasha felt it too. Data deserved a dream. Who knew if his programming would ever get sophisticated enough to give him that opportunity? It wasn’t like he’d be in her body indefinitely.

She hoped.

“It’s probably for the best,” she said. “You know what my nightmares can be like. It’s still kind of my brain. For all we know, it could have decided to give you a replay of my worst hits.”

Data acknowledged it, but as he opened his mouth to speak, he was cut off by a grumbling sound. He blinked, and looked down, and Tasha bit her lip to hide her grin.

“Someone skipped dinner last night,” she said. She regretted it, as Data’s eyes went wide, horrified. She cut him off before he could apologize. “It’s fine. Doing it every once in a while won’t hurt me, and it’s not like you were thinking clearly last night.” She stood, crossing to the replicator, and then paused. “Any requests?”

“I…do not know.”

Tasha got a variety, a couple different things she knew she liked (and something she didn’t, because she kind of wanted to see how Data would react). She dropped onto the ground, thumping the floor beside her with a hand, and she was proud that she seemed to be getting the hang of this super-strength thing. When Data slid onto the floor next to her, she could see handprint-shaped bruises on his hips. Tasha was really going to have to convince Data to mark her more often; if this was her reaction in his body, when she was back in her own, that was going to fuel enough fantasies for _months_.

“You want to get dressed first?” she offered. She nudged the uniform his way. “I figured you’d want a clean one.”

He took it, toying with it in his hands, looking down at his naked skin before up at her. “Would it make you more comfortable?”

It wasn’t the answer she expected. “You want to be naked?”

“My modesty programming is not functioning in your body. And…I enjoy your form. Aesthetically speaking,” he added quickly, blushing hard, and Tasha grinned at the thought that Data was struggling just a little with her sex drive.

“It’s fine with me,” she said. And, just because she could, she half-joined him, stripping off her shirt and setting it aside. She picked up a strawberry and held it out to him. “Try this.”

They’d shared meals before. She knew Data couldn’t taste (or rather, could taste but not in a way that merited any enjoyment of the sensation), but he’d told her before that certain foods, particularly when shared, could grow to have positive associations in his positronic net. Tasha had grown up with certain rituals around food – namely, the hoarding of it, but there were other things native to Turkana around meals – and sharing with Data comforted her. So it worked out.

Of course, that was when Tasha was the one with the human taste buds. Data crossed his legs, tucking the blanket over his lap, and took the strawberry from her hand, examining it before taking a bite.

The sound he made was absolutely pornographic. He covered his mouth, staring at her in shock, and Tasha burst out laughing. “Good, right?”

“It is…indescribable.”

“Better than sex?”

Data opened his mouth, probably to give a very logical retort, and then closed it as he determined she was joking. He gave a half-nod of acknowledgement. “I can see why you enjoy them.”

“Probably one of my favorite foods,” Tasha agreed. She picked one up herself, taking a bite. It was definitely disappointing by comparison. “I’m sorry you can’t do this all the time. Your taste buds kind of suck.”

“I have accepted it.” He took another bite, closing his eyes to savor it. “However, I believe I will miss this.” He contemplated the stem, like he was thinking of eating that too, and then set it aside. Tasha fed him the rest of hers, and Data didn’t appear to think twice about leaning in to eat it from her fingers.

She leaned back against the couch, watching as Data picked at the plate, examining the other offerings. There was bacon, because as much as Tasha tried to argue to herself that as a security officer, she needed to eat healthy in order to stay in peak shape, there was still something incredibly decadent about eating something that was almost pure fat. Turkana hadn’t had anything anywhere close to bacon.

Data appeared less enamored with it than she was. Certainly less than the strawberries. He looked contemplative as he chewed, licking the grease absently from his fingers before going for the banana, and then Tasha had to look away because she could not deal with the thought of not being turned on by Data eating basically the most suggestive food she had ever managed to find. Tasha had spent her time at the academy using it to what she’d thought at the time was her advantage – it had worked, at any rate, on almost every humanoid male in the vicinity – and her first few years on a starship only eating them in secret out of paranoia. The _Enterprise_ didn’t have a mess, but Tasha was pretty sure at this point that she could safely eat a banana in front of other people without feeling completely embarrassed and ashamed.

She snuck a glance at Data. It wasn’t like he was _trying_ to be suggestive. The action was completely innocuous. Tasha was pretty sure she’d remember it anyway – mentally picturing him in his body, instead of hers – and enjoy it more than she ought.

They picked their way through the plate, until Data decided he was done. His reaction to the lemon had been comical; his face had instantly screwed up, nose wrinkled as he dropped the fruit, trying to get the taste from his tongue, but the disgust had quickly been replaced by delight. Even a ‘negative’ sensation was still a sensation, and Tasha smiled to herself. Data nibbled on the last of the strawberries as she stuck the plate back in the replicator to be recycled, pulling her shirt back on as Data donned his uniform. He faltered at the pips, then fixed the lieutenant rank on without a word. Tasha remembered a story he’d told her once, about the fact that he’d needed a special hearing just to get promoted to lieutenant commander once he’d passed all the qulifications – and the vote had _not_ been unanimous. Tasha sincerely hoped that hadn’t brought back any unpleasant memories.

She cleared her throat. “Staff meeting soon. Think they’ll have some good news for us?”

“Geordi is highly capable,” Data murmured absently. “I am certain he will find a way to return us to ourselves.”

Tasha touched his elbow. “Are you okay?”

Data pursed his lips, staring at the floor. “You have been very generous with me, Tasha. It is…selfish of me to wish for more.”

“You’re not ready to go back?” Tasha could get that. As much as she missed her body, Tasha had spent a long time wishing for Data’s android abilities. She didn’t anymore, but she knew what it was like, to want something beyond your grasp. To be given that opportunity…it had to be difficult to give it up.

“This body is not my own.” Data sighed. “Becoming human has always been an intangible goal for me. It is something I can aspire to, but something I know I will never reach. And yet…”

“Now you are.”

“Now I am.” Data toyed with his hands, rubbing his thumb over the back of one. “I would never ask to keep your body, Tasha. I would not wish to, even if your own feelings were not a consideration. But I find myself asking the question, ‘how long is enough?’”

“I get it.” Tasha pulled him in, wrapping her arms around his waist. He felt so tiny, and it had nothing to do with their comparative sizes or strengths. She cupped his chin, tilting it up until he was forced to look at her. “It’s not a bad thing to want it, Data.”

He still managed to avoid her eyes. “It does not feel like a good thing.”

Tasha sighed. She dropped her hand and pulled away. “That’s the funny thing about getting your wishes. Even when it turns out amazing in some ways, you find out it’s not so great in others.”

Data cocked his head. “You are speaking from experience.”

“Sure. I’ve gotten a lot of my wishes.” She folded her arms, anticipating a discomfort in her stomach that didn’t come. “I was rescued from Turkana. It’s amazing, and I never want to go back if I can help it, but still…it was hard. Really hard. Being a practically-feral fifteen-year-old. Trying to fit in with people who weren’t…” She cut herself off, shaking her head. “That’s life. Good and bad together. You get to be human. That’s good. You get to feel things in a way you’ve never experienced, food and sleep and sex…all in a new light. But you don’t get to keep it. And that’s the part that isn’t so great.”

“I do not want to be human as you,” Data acknowledged. “I would rather be human as me. Even if it is my consciousness, I find myself…missing my body.”

“Is it hard? Feeling all this like a human?” It was hard enough for Tasha, and she’d been born that way.

Data hesitated, and then nodded. “I did not expect…the feelings are recognizable, if different. And they are stronger. I had not realized…”

“That you could feel?” Tasha smiled kindly at him. “For me, that was never a question.” Well. Maybe in the beginning. But not for a very long time.

Their commbadges chimed in unison. Tasha blinked, and watched Data shake himself out of his stupor, answering the captain’s hail to both of them. “We are on our way,” he said, glancing towards Tasha with just enough of a nod that she understood, turning towards the door with him at her side.

The conference room was already mostly full, Data and Tasha trickling in with the last of the senior officers. There was less staring today. It seemed everyone had gotten over their initial shock, although Tasha could still feel Deanna’s curiosity even from across the room as Picard turned the floor over to Geordi.

“It took a lot of work,” the engineer told them, “but we think we’ve got the energy surge figured out, and how to reverse it.” He pulled up some graphics on the computer, launching into an explanation that Tasha only kind of understood. She had a functional knowledge of a couple scientific fields, and Data’s brain supplied the rest, but it still wasn’t her area of study. She got the gist.

“Frankly, we’re still not sure why the phenomenon exists,” Geordi finished, taking a seat beside her again. “But we think we can generate it again, and as long as Data and Tasha are the only two people in the vicinity, we should be able to get them back to normal, no problem.”

“Excellent,” Picard nodded in approval. “Doctor Crusher?”

“I’d like to go over the findings in a little more depth, but I don’t see anything that looks like a concern.”

“Good work,” Picard told Geordi. He addressed Data and Tasha. “I want you two to stand by. Once Doctor Crusher is satisfied with the work, I don’t see any reason why we can’t resolve this issue right away.”

“Yes, sir,” Tasha said. Data nodded, and they stood as they were dismissed, Riker staying behind to murmur something to Picard – ‘be nice to get our second officer back’ – while Doctor Crusher and Geordi bent their heads together by the conference room computers, working through the research. “That was fast,” Tasha murmured to Data as they stepped out into the corridor, stopping just a few paces from the door.

“Geordi is highly capable.” There was a note of regret in Data’s voice, and Tasha felt a little spark of guilt flicker to life.

“We’ve probably got another hour or two,” she said. “Is that enough time?”

“I do not think a lifetime would be enough,” Data admitted. But he smiled at her, a little sad, but so thankful it hurt to look at it. “I am grateful, Tasha, for everything you have done for me.”

She would have blushed, if she could. “I didn’t really do anything. I just sort of…loaned you my body on accident.”

“You did more than that. You took care of me.”

“Well, of course I did.” Tasha took Data’s hand, lacing their fingers together. “You always take care of me. And…more than once I’ve wanted to return the favor, but androids don’t really have needs.”

“You wish to take care of me?” Data’s eyes were full of wonder.

“Of course,” Tasha told him. She squeezed his hand carefully. “I’d like to do it more. Not just when you’re in my body.”

“I will…endeavor to allow you to.”

Tasha smiled, and then turned as the conference room door swished open behind them, admitting Deanna into the corridor. The counselor smiled at them. “You two seem much better this morning.”

“It’s a shame,” Tasha joked. “It seems like we were just getting the hang of this thing, and now we’ve got to go back.”

Deanna’s eyebrows were knowing. “I’m sure adjusting in the other direction will be easier.”

“But not as fun.” Tasha winked at Data, who turned bright red, his gaze dropped sharply to the floor even as he smiled. “Then again,” Tasha said, “getting reacquainted with our bodies might be fun too.”

Deanna suppressed a smile, badly. “Well, I’m glad to see that you’ve worked it out. Not many couples can say they’ve walked a mile in each other’s shoes and mean it so literally.”

“Give me one other couple who’s been through something like this.” Tasha shook her head, laughing. “Only on the _Enterprise_.”

“Actually, some telepathic species do have the ability to inhabit each other’s conscious minds,” Data put in. “Vulcans, for example, can reach a state during melding where neither individual can determine which body originally belonged to them.”

Tasha brought Data’s hand to her lips, kissing the knuckles. “You’re cute when you know things.”

“I always know things.”

Deanna chuckled. “Different body, same Data.” She touched Tasha’s arm lightly. “I want to see both of you in my office afterwards, okay? Together or separately. Just to check in.”

“Yes, counselor,” Data agreed. Tasha nodded, and Deanna gave them one last smile before she strode off down the hall.

Tasha turned back to Data. “Last call, baby. You’ve got until Geordi and the doctor finish making sure they’re not going to scramble our brains to be human. What do you want to do with it?”

Data hesitated. He looked suddenly overwhelmed, and Tasha couldn’t blame him. There were almost infinite possible human experiences, and maybe an hour to try them. But then, unexpectedly, Data’s face smoothed into a peaceful expression. He gave her a serene smile. “I believe I have an answer.”

They wound up in the arboretum, hand in hand, Tasha watching as Data ran gentle fingertips over the leaves and flower petals. He stopped at the roses, dropping her hand to crouch, inhaling and closing his eyes. When he opened them, he reached out, tracing the curve of a thorn.

“Go ahead,” Tasha murmured, and he blinked up at her, startled, before comprehending.

He let himself be pricked, staring in wonder at the tiny bead of blood, sucking the finger into his mouth as he stood again. “It hurts.”

“A little. But it’s not a bad pain.”

They sat by the water, Data stirring it with one lazy hand, watching the ripples skip out across the surface. Tasha watched him, and the expression on his face was wistful, but not nearly as much as she’d expected. “I am going to miss this,” he said. “But I am glad, even for a short while, that I was able to experience it.”

“Me too.” Tasha tucked one knee to her chest, resting her chin on it. “I think I get it. The way you see the world. There’s so much you can experience. And it’s all kind of amazing.”

Data looked at her. “When I was first activated, I was equally eager to learn all things. I did not differentiate in knowledge. But the longer I spend among humans, the more I am learning that some things will always be more valuable than others.”

“LaForge to Data and Yar. We’re ready for you.”

Data offered Tasha a hand, and she let him pull her to her feet. “Time to leave Wonderland,” she murmured, and Data tilted his head at the expression, but he smiled. They made their way to the transporter room together, and Tasha kept her eyes on Data’s face – her face, but softened in a way she had never imagined she could be – as the call came to energize, and their atoms scattered into the beam.

Tasha came to with a headache. She squeezed her eyes tighter shut against the lights, turning her head to the side with a muffled groan. A hand touched hers, and she squinted, then blinked, as Data’s yellow eyes swam into view. Relief cascaded through her body, thrumming from her chest all the way down to her feet. She pushed herself upright, and while her head still hurt a little, it wasn’t the overwhelming surge of information she’d had to contend with before. It was just a headache, nothing more.

“How are you feeling?” Doctor Crusher asked, side-stepping Data as she scanned Tasha with a tricorder. “Everything looks like it’s back in order.”

How was she feeling? Tasha took inventory. She was sore, in her thighs and her hips and just a bit around the collarbone. She reached a hand up, touching the collar, and the bruise hidden beneath it throbbed a little. She grinned. “I’m feeling fine.”

Data smiled back, his face placid, but with that warm undercurrent that Tasha could always read in his eyes. He helped her off the bed, and Tasha rolled her shoulders back, delighting in the stretch of her own muscles. It was chilly in sickbay, and her skin prickled. It was wonderful.

She reached for Data’s hands, threading their fingers together. “How about you? How are you feeling?”

Data raised his eyebrows. “I am functioning within established parameters.”

Tasha bit her lip, fighting her smile. “Yeah?”

He nodded. His lips quirked, just a little. “If you should like to make a more thorough check, I believe Doctor Crusher has placed us on medical leave until our next shift.”

A thrill thrummed through Tasha, and she shivered in delight. “Can’t be too thorough, can we?”

In her periphery, she was vaguely aware that Doctor Crusher was rolling her eyes, but it was a fond gesture as she waved them out of sickbay. Tasha pulled Data in the direction of her quarters, their hands still intertwined, and Data, larger and stronger than any human, with android senses that would always surpass Tasha’s and a brain that she could still barely fathom the depths of, allowed himself to be guided down the hall, following after her without missing a step. There was love in his eyes, and Tasha thought that maybe, for the first time, he knew for certain that he was feeling it too.


End file.
